McDonald's

While the public sees a restaurant chain, the corporate engine is a massive property holding company. McDonald’s owns approximately 70% of its restaurant buildings and 45% of the underlying land, which it leases back to franchisees. This model provides a stable, high-margin revenue stream that is less volatile than food sales; rent payments accounted for one-fifth of total revenue by 2015.

The company's real estate portfolio is valued at an estimated $42 billion. This strategy makes McDonald’s one of the world's largest landowners and grants the corporation immense control over its franchisees, who must pay both royalties and rent to keep the Golden Arches over their doors.

In 1948, the McDonald brothers revolutionized the industry not by adding features, but by removing them. They fired their 20 carhops, replaced silverware with paper wrappings to eliminate dishwashing, and slashed their menu to just nine items. This "Speedee Service System" focused entirely on volume and velocity, creating the blueprint for the assembly-line kitchen.

The original mascot, a chef named "Speedee," represented this obsession with time. Although replaced by the Golden Arches in 1962 and Ronald McDonald in 1963, the core philosophy remained: lower prices through extreme operational simplicity. Today, this legacy persists in "McDrive" locations, where drive-throughs now account for 70% of all U.S. sales.

The modern McDonald’s Corporation credits its founding to Ray Kroc, a franchise agent who joined in 1955 and eventually bought out the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million in 1961. Kroc was a ruthless business partner who famously drove the founders out of the industry, eventually turning the brand into a symbol of the "American way of life" and the primary engine of globalization.

Under Kroc’s influence, the brand scaled to over 40,000 locations worldwide. It is now the world’s second-largest private employer, trailing only Walmart. However, the scale of this expansion has made the brand a lightning rod for criticism regarding low worker wages, animal welfare, and the nutritional impact of a "standardized" global diet.

To maintain dominance in 120 countries, McDonald's practices "glocal" marketing—keeping the Big Mac and fries while radically altering the rest of the menu. In India, religious dietary laws led to the introduction of millet-based buns and beef-free options; in France (where it's called "McDo"), the menu includes macaroons and beer; and in Asia, restaurants offer rice-based items like McRice.

Despite these variations, the company periodically "cleans" its core products to meet modern health standards. Under CEO Steve Easterbrook, the brand removed high-fructose corn syrup from buns and artificial preservatives from McNuggets. Most recently, the "McPlant" burger and vegan ice cream trials in the UK signal a shift toward meat alternatives as the brand attempts to remain relevant to a more health-conscious generation.

The company is currently in a state of rapid digital transition, with "McDonald's Next" stores featuring open-concept designs, digital ordering, and table service. Delivery services through Uber Eats and DoorDash now account for roughly 3% of total business. However, not all experiments succeed: "CosMc's," a coffee-focused brand launched in 2023 to compete with afternoon drink chains, was slated for total closure by June 2025.

The brand also faces significant economic headwinds. In early 2025, U.S. revenue fell by 3.6%—the largest decline since the COVID-19 pandemic—as the company grapples with shifting trade policies and consumer pushback against rising prices. To counter this, the brand has returned to its roots with the $5 "McValue Meal" to regain its status as a budget-friendly option.